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Appeals Court Upholds Shiue’s Civil Commitment

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the civil commitment of a Minnesota man who kidnapped his former teacher and her daughter more than 30 years ago and killed a 6-year-old boy who saw the abduction.

Ming Sen Shiue, 60, repeatedly raped his former teacher during her seven weeks of confinement and videotaped some of the attacks. In a 19-page opinion, a three-judge panel of the appeals court said Shiue is a sexually dangerous person who was fixated on his victim and is “highly likely to reoffend.”

“Appellant has stated that he felt that his fixation was not voluntary and just part of his ‘consciousness,’ if that is the case, then a similar situation could arise without any conscious intent or warning,” the appeals court found.

“The district court did not err in ordering appellant’s civil commitment when/if he is released from federal custody,” they added.

Messages left with Shiue’s attorney and prosecutors were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Shiue is serving a life sentence in federal prison for the 1980 kidnapping of his former ninth grade math teacher, Mary Stauffer, and her 8-year-old daughter. He’s eligible for parole every two years, but his most recent request for parole was denied last November.

Shiue was also convicted in state court of killing 6-year-old Jason Wilkman, who witnessed the kidnapping. He received a concurrent sentence in that case.

If ever paroled, Shiue could spend the rest of his life locked up in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program.

After kidnapping Stauffer and her daughter, Shiue kept them captive in his Roseville home for seven weeks before they escaped. The appeals court judges said Shiue was fixated on Stauffer long before the kidnapping, burglarized her relatives’ house to try to find her, attempted to break into her house, and wrote in his diary about his fantasies of hurting her.

When Stauffer testified during his 1981 murder trial, Shiue jumped up and slashed her face with a knife he had smuggled into the courtroom. It took 62 stitches to close her wound.

The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sexual crimes, but Stauffer has spoken to the media and publicly about the case.

In appealing his civil commitment, Shiue argued that his crime was a single incident, and that since it happened 30 years ago, violence was no longer a relevant issue. The appeals court disagreed.

“Appellant repeatedly raped M.S. over the course of seven weeks. When he was not raping her, he kept her locked in a small closet,” the judges wrote. “Appellant raped M.S. in the manner in which he wrote about years earlier. … Appellant’s offenses — kidnapping, rape, and murder — were violent.”

The judges wrote that Shiue had engaged in disturbing behavior dating back to his adolescence, and that he was diagnosed with personality disorders, including sexual sadism. Shiue has not been treated while in prison.

As part of his appeal, Shiue argued the state didn’t show he was highly likely to reoffend because he is 60 years old. But the appeals court said evidence shows “appellant’s personality type and high intellect could cause him to become more dangerous with age.”

The Stauffers testified at Shiue’s commitment hearing last year, saying they still feared him.

Stauffer and her husband are now retired. After the kidnapping they split most of their time between the U.S. and the Philippines, where they worked as Baptist missionaries.